John Lydon’s post-Sex Pistols band kick off UK tour at Coventry Kasbah.
Just what happens to a punk after the demise of the ‘70s? The hardcore ones seem to have kept hold of their Doc Martin boots and colourful mohicans – for as long as their scalp can bear – and define anything and everything thereafter the decade as ‘shit’. John Lydon however was fairly quick to develop his post Pistols band Public Image Ltd when he formed the group in 1978, developing his style to adopt a more experimental dance rock persona.
PiL, as they’ve become branded by abbreviation, completed nine albums before they separated in 1992 and then kept quiet until 2009 when the band was revived with three new components to back Lydon – who remains to be the only original member.
And as for Mr Rotten, 33 years since he walked off the stage and out on the Sex Pistols during their famous last show in San Francisco… Well, he’s still got a good head of hair on him, and it appears that he’s become somewhat of a caricature too; pulling faces and jiving about between burping and wiping the sweat off his mic with a towel. He also seems to have developed characteristics akin to that of Hazel O’Connor – only cruder and more mucosal – but regardless presenting the same gestures, stances and manner of movement.
Swilling his mouth and spitting into a bucket between every song (the mucus problem stemming for almost a lifetime now), Lydon swanned onto the stage with his troop of iconoclastic beatniks (never to say hippies) and opened with ‘Public Image‘. The crowd were a blend of an older set reminiscent of PiL the first time around, and the young ones who have caught on since. Neither lot could throw their plastic cups very far.
It seemed difficult for fans to sing along since many of the songs involve a series of groans, wails and warbles, which occasionally go to shape incoherent messages of disdain. But by no means are Lydon’s utterances undermined for much of the time, and one of the essential purposes of PiL has always been to act as platform for Lydon’s huge and varied array of opinions. And there’s always one mentalist on the front row, keeping up the morale, and enjoying the show singing along to each yowl and bellow – raising a finger every now and then in honour of the punk rock god.
Lydon has certainly calmed his amplified attacks over the microphone as the years have passed and now instead seems fundamentally “happy”, as he voiced to the crowd, to be the man in his position. Every now and then the old look of contempt creeps back into the act and he empties his nose in a projectile fashion across the stage – but mostly he’s become a content and appreciative, more mature performer. Half way through the set he announces that “There’s more of this disgusting rubbish” to come, you’ve been warned.
In just about two hours, John, Lu Edmonds, Bruce Smith, and Scott Firth rode along on a sub-woofer through such classics as ‘This Is Not A Love Song‘, ‘Death Disco‘, ‘USLS 1‘, ‘Warrior‘, ‘Bags‘, and ‘Religion‘ before they walked off stage and paused before returning to complete an obligatory encore. On their reappearance, the band set to work on ‘Order of Death‘, ‘Rise‘, and finished on Leftfield song ‘Open Up‘ (which Lydon reportedly dislikes). Introductions made in honour of the successors of Keith Levene and Jah Wobble from the original line-up came right at the end of the show.
The only thing to really complain about is how repetitive PiL can become when many of their songs loop and lie on the same bass line for eight minutes or so; but with riffs that sound like a piece of copper spiralling down a coin depositary – there’s always something to get you rocking with fresh enthusiasm – and they still pack out a venue.
(Words and photos: Joanne Ostrowski)
